On hating your artistic work

"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I

wish someone told me. All of us who do creative

work, we get into it because we have good taste.

But there is this gap. For the first couple years

you make stuff, it's just not that good. It's trying

to be good, it has potential, but it's not. But your

taste, the thing that got you into the game, is

still killer. And your taste is why your work

disappoints you. A lot of people never get past

this phase, they quit. Most people I know who

do interesting, creative work went through years

of this. We know our work doesn't have this

special thing that we want it to have. We all go

through this. And if you are just starting out or

you are still in this phase, you gotta know its

normal and the most important thing you can do

is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so

that every week you will finish one story. It is

only by going through a volume of work that you

will close that gap, and your work will be as

good as your ambitions. And I took longer to

figure out how to do this than anyone I've ever

met. It's gonna take awhile. It's normal to take

awhile. You've just gotta fight your way through.